Kratt Holidays
by kleec13
Summary: Martin being away at college has brought about a lot of changes and these changes are even more apparent during the holidays.
1. Chapter 1

This is sorta based on The First Thanksgiving by Angstphilosophy in that my fanfic also takes place the first Thanksgiving since Martin started college and it involves Chris missing him. However, I took the idea and did my own thing with it. But anyway, I hope all who celebrate have a lovely Thanksgiving on Thursday!

"Are you all excited Martin's coming home?" Mamma Kratt asked.

"Oh yes!" Susan, Christine, and Chris exclaimed.

They certainly were! Even though there were still four people left (not to mention the three younger siblings were at the age where they were becoming more independent than ever), the absence of their happy, lively oldest sibling was still noticeable in the Kratt household. The absence was even more noticeable now that the holidays were coming up. But the absence would soon be gone as Martin was making the drive all the way from Duke back to New Jersey as they spoke to celebrate Thanksgiving.

Throughout all the excitement, the phone rang.

"Hello?" Mamma Kratt answered.

"Hi mom. It's Martin."

"Oh, hi Martin. You're not on your way home? Is something wrong?"

"Yeah, the car isn't starting. I don't think I'll be able to make it back this weekend."

"Oh dear. Well, at least you weren't driving when it happened."

"Yeah. Still sucks, though. I'm really sorry. Give my best to everyone. I miss you all."

"We miss you too, Martin. No need to be sorry. It's not your fault. Let us know if there's anything we can do. We'll see you at Christmas."

"Thanks mom. See you at Christmas."

"So, Martin's not coming after all?" Christine asked.

"No, his car isn't starting, unfortunately," Mamma Kratt said sadly.

Sighs and expressions of disappointment went around the room, but no one said anything. Everyone tried to go along with their day as best as possible.

"Hey, Christine. Have you seen Chris?" Susan asked her twin sister later in the evening.

"No, the only time I saw Chris after we found out Martin can't come home for Thanksgiving is dinner a couple hours ago."

"Do you think we should go look for him?

"Yeah, I guess so."

Christine and Susan went to Chris's room and knocked on the door. When there was no answer, Christine opened the door a little. Chris was on his bed staring at the ceiling.

"Hey, Chris. You okay?" Christine asked.

Chris shrugged. Christine walked in the room and motioned for Susan to follow her.

"You've missed Martin more than you've let on, haven't you" Susan asked.

"It's just… it's just not fair!" Chris vented. "Not only to me, but to all of us. We waited three months to see him and this happens?"

"I know," Christine said sympathetically. "But look at it this way. Martin's probably a lot more bummed than we are."

"Yeah, we have each other in our own home," Susan noted. "Martin's stuck out there having just started college. We're missing one person while Martin's missing his whole family."

"And on top of that, he has a broken car to deal with," Christine added.

With that, Chris felt a bit guilty. He had been so focused on himself and missing his brother that he hadn't thought much about what it must have been like for Martin these past few months. As hard as it was to get used to Martin's absence, everything else stayed the same for Chris. But Martin's entire world changed the moment he moved into his dorm at Duke. And Martin wouldn't want Chris, or anyone else in the family, to be sad. He'd want them to enjoy Thanksgiving despite the fact he wouldn't be there. And maybe Christmas would come sooner than they thought.

"Can we send a card to Martin saying Happy Thanksgiving and that we're thinking of him? And then everyone at Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow could sign it?" Chris suggested.

"I think that's a great idea!" Christine said.

"Yeah, Martin would love that!" Susan said to add her approval as well. Chris smiled at his sisters proudly.

"So. You're feeling better?" Christine asked.

"Yeah. Thanks. Truly."

"Well, we're no Martin. But we do what we can to help you," Susan said with a wink.

"No, I don't want another Martin," Chris said. "I'm more than happy and thankful to have one Martin, one Christine, and one Susan."

"Aw, come here you," Christine said, motioning her sister and brother in for a hug.

"You know, as much as we love Martin, we should take advantage of each other's sibling company over the next month. Make lemonade out of lemons, so to speak," Susan said as the hug was over.

"I like the sound of that," Chris said with a nod.

"Me too, but I don't think we can start now," said Christine. "Let's start after we get a card for Martin. I think mom and dad will have the perfect one!"

Susan and Chris laughed and the three left the room.

Part 2 will come around Christmastime. It'll take place when Martin comes home. 😊


	2. Chapter 2

Emeraldsandopals gave me the idea/suggested to write the Thanksgiving chapter from Martin's perspective to see how he deals with being stuck at college for Thanksgiving and things like that. I decided that Martin's birthday was too long to wait for a new chapter, so here's a short addition before then. And I have exciting news—I'm going to meet Chris and Martin at Wild Kratts Live in May! I am so grateful I could take this opportunity. It's going to be amazing! But anyway, here's the fanfic!

"Great," Martin thought as he hung up the phone. The car wouldn't be hard to fix, and luckily, Duke wasn't in the middle of nowhere, so he could find a nearby shop relatively easily. But it would still probably require one of his parents to make the drive out there, which Martin didn't like. And of course, he was going to be stuck alone on Thanksgiving tomorrow. But as unfortunate as Martin's situation was, he figured sulking would get him nowhere. He decided to bring his sketch stuff and go to dinner.

Martin finished dinner and walked to the lounge nearby to keep warm by the fireplace to sketch.

"Hey—looks like quite a collection you have there," someone said as they passed by Martin. Martin looked up and saw a tall red head guy with freckles.

"Thanks," Martin said. "A lot of it is for drawing class, but there are some I do on my own."

"Cool. You like animals?" he asked looking at Martin pictures

"Yes, I love animals! I'm planning on being a vet."

"Nice! The name's Henry, by the way,"

"Martin."

"So, Martin," Henry asked, taking a seat beside Martin. "Do you have any Thanksgiving plans?"  
"Well, my car broke down right before I was going to make the 7 and a half hour drive home. So I guess I'm here sketching all weekend."

"Aw, that sucks. You're in great company, though, if that makes you feel better. There many who can't make the trip back home."

"Are you staying here?"

"Yup. I'm from Minnesota, so the flights for just Thanksgiving weekend would be too expensive."

"So, I at least can get to know you over the next few days?" Martin asked.

"Of course, if I can do the same about you."

Martin nodded with a grin.

"Are you a freshman?"

Martin nodded again.

"I'm a sophomore, but just barely. My birthday's late August. When's yours?"

"December 23rd."

"Oh wow, so close to Christmas."

"Yeah, that's pretty much everyone's reaction when I tell them."

"I imagine so. Sorry I couldn't be more creative," Henry said, blushing the way redheads are prone to do. "You probably don't need reminding that your birthday's so close to Christmas since it's been that way literally since the day you were born."

"It's okay," Martin said laughing. Henry laughed along with him. Martin was taking quite a liking to Henry. They had similar senses of humor.

"So, can you show me some of your collection?" Henry asked. Martin nodded rummaged through his folder of drawings.

"This is an emu I drew—they're related to ostriches. I drew an emu to convince my dad to let me take drawing here… with emus being such great dads and all. He has that one and I drew another."

"Well, with you knowing so much about animals, being your friend is never going to be boring. I'm glad your dad let you take drawing."

"Thanks. So am I," Martin said taking out another drawing. "We were supposed to draw people who are special to you in life. I had just talked to my siblings on the phone. I guess I was missing them."

Henry looked at the drawing with a nod of approval.

"Looks like a nice bunch. Are they older? Younger? A mix of both?"

"Younger. Chris is the youngest and the twins Susan and Christine are between us."

"Ah, I have younger siblings that are twins, too. Boy and girl. I'm not the oldest, though. I have an older brother, too."

"Aw, that's great," Martin said. He then looked at the picture and felt a wave of sadness come over him somehow. "I wonder how all of them are doing without us this holiday."

"Yeah, times like these remind me that we're all getting older and becoming more independent, too. But hey. We found each other, didn't we?"

"Yeah, we did. Thanks for saying hi. Wanna go back to my dorm? My roommate's gone already. I can show you more drawings and other things."

"Sure, I'd love that."


	3. Chapter 3

Any Wild Kratts fans also watch My Little Pony: FiM? Well, this is kinda the Kratt brothers version of one of my favorite MLP episodes, "Brotherhooves Social." They have similar conflicts and morals, anyway. Happiest of Birthdays Martin! :)

Martin woke up and turned his head to the Thanksgiving card he had on the nightstand. He wasn't dreaming. He really had finally come home from college the night before. He didn't account for the snow in his travel time, so it took him longer than expected, and thus got there later in the night than he expected, but he got there, nonetheless. He sat up and looked over at Chris's side of the room and noticed it was empty. Martin looked at the time and realized it was already 10:30. Finals week and the long drive must have taken a lot of him. He quick looked out the window and saw it had snowed more overnight before he dashed out to see what his family was up to.

"Well, hello sleepy college student," Mama Kratt greeted. "Want some pancakes?"

"Sure, thanks! Are we the only ones inside the house now?" Martin asked, noticing the quiet.

"Yes, your father's at work and your brother and sisters are out enjoying the fresh snow," Mama Kratt said, placing Martin's pancakes in front of him. "They wanted to wait for you, but we didn't know when you'd wake up and thought we'd let you sleep."

"Alright, I'll join them when I'm done," Martin said.

Martin bundled up when he finished breakfast and ventured in the backyard to find his siblings. They were having a snowball fight.

"Martin! Hello!" Chris called.

"Come joins us!" Susan called as well.

"We haven't had a snowball fight in ages," Martin noted.

"We've had so much snow this winter, so we decided to take advantage of it," Christine said.

"Yeah, we're proving to Chris that 'throwing like a girl' is no insult," Susan continued.

"Since I want to join the baseball team in the spring and all, they've been teaching me some tips they learned in softball. Our aim is better than ever, wouldn't you agree?" Chris asked smiling at his sisters. The three laughed and Martin nodded in approval. He knew Chris wanted to join the baseball team, but he was a bit surprised this was the first time he heard about the whole ordeal with snowball fight training. But he figured it wasn't a big deal.

"Well, I'm willing to see if you've been good teachers," Martin said.

"Let's stop blabbing and make some snowballs!" Chris said.

As the fight began, Martin was surprised at how well he was doing. His hand-eye coordination was better than he thought and he dodged many snowballs that were thrown at him. But then Chris came running towards him out of the blue.

"Come on, Chris! Show Martin we've been too easy on him!" Christine shouted. With that, Chris hit Martin with two snowballs—one right after the other. Before Martin knew it, Christine and Susan had also successfully cornered him in as a target. He found shelter behind a tree. The other three laughed together once again.

"Lessons must have worked," Chris said through his laughter. "I'm sure to get on the baseball team with your help."

"Okay, okay," Susan said to calm her sister and brother down. "Sorry Martin. We didn't mean to make you feel bad. You put up a good fight!"

Chris and Christine made sounds of agreement and Martin came out from behind the tree.

"So, we've been at this for a bit now," Susan continued. "Should we continue or go inside?"

"How about we explore a bit before going back in the house?" Susan asked. "Our backyard is always full of creatures."

"I'm good with that," Martin said. He knew it was all in good fun, but he didn't need a reminder that his sisters had helped Chris pelt him with snowballs.

"Funny you should mention exploring. I think I saw some tracks earlier!" Chris said.

"Oooh, of what creature?" Susan asked.

"I don't remember, but I can take you to them. Let's go!"

Chris led the group to the tracks.

"Ah, they're deer tracks," Susan said.

"We were just talking about deer the other day, weren't we?" Christine asked.

"Yes!" Chris exclaimed. "You told me that female reindeer are the only deer species have antlers. And they shed the antlers after the males do."

"So you do listen when we tell you things," Christine remarked winking at her younger brother.

"Hey, snow adventures! Hot chocolate is ready!" Mama Kratt shouted from the house.

"Well, thank you for getting me out of this awkward position, mom," Martin thought to himself.

Chris ran ahead, but the twins noticed Martin lagging behind looking at his feet as he trudged through the snow. They decided to stay with their older brother.

"Is everything okay?" Christine asked.

"Everything's fine," Martin said flatly.

"Feeling a bit left out?" Susan pressed on.

"No," Martin said, tone unchanged. He ran on ahead, leaving his confused sisters behind.

That night at dinner, Chris remembered something he wanted to tell his family.

"Hey, I didn't tell you that I got a good grade on the paper I turned in a couple weeks ago!"

"That's great, dear!" Mama Kratt said. "I've had no doubts you're a smart guy."

"Thanks again for your help Christine and Susan," Chris said. "You'll have to help me out with school stuff more often."

Martin's world started to go in slow motion. He could feel his pulse and breathing getting faster.

"May I be excused for a moment?" he managed to blurt out.

The Kratt parents looked at each other in surprise.

"Sure Martin," Papa Kratt said.

"I knew something was up with him," Susan said after Martin left.

"Yeah, he clearly was feeling left out when we asked him earlier," Christine said. "How could we have been so stupid to believe him?"

Chris stayed silent as guilt piled on him as well by the second.

"Everything will be okay," Mama Kratt reassured. "Let's wait a few moments, and then one of you can talk to him."

Chris found Martin in their room after dinner.

"Martin, are you okay?" Chris asked.

"Why do you care? Everything seems to be perfect for you here without me," Martin retorted.

Neither said anything for a moment as Chris processed Martin's retaliation.

"You _were_ feeling left out," Chris finally said. "Susan and Christine told me about the conversation you had earlier. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry they noticed and I didn't."

"Why would you notice? As I said, everything seemed perfect for you."

Chris, though shocked and a bit hurt by Martin's uncharacteristically stern comments, noticed something about the things his older brother said.

"I have a feeling," Chris started again, "I don't know if it's because I'm your brother, or that subtlety never has been your strong suit, or what… but this is about more than just feeling left out, isn't it?" Martin expression finally softened as he nodded slowly. "So… what's going on, Martin?"

"You wouldn't understand," Martin said.

"What makes you think that?"

"You're not the oldest. You don't know what it's like to see your younger siblings need you less and less. I know you look up to our sisters as older siblings too, but I was always your hero. I was the one who told you about animals and helped you with your homework. I guess I was given a harsh reminder I was gone for four months."

"Well, you're right," Chris admitted. "I don't know what that's like exactly. But I know it can be hard to share your siblings with other people. I can't tell you how many times I've wanted you to myself and not have to share you with Susan, Christine, or anyone else."

Martin let out a sigh. He didn't know how much he needed to hear that.

"About your apology earlier—I know you're sorry. I'm sorry, too. I won't bottle up like that in the future," Martin promised.

"Good," Chris said with a nod and a small smile. "And Martin, you'll always be my hero. I don't want you to doubt that ever again."

"I know," Martin said returning Chris's smile. "Thanks. I may be the oldest, but you, Christine, and Susan have certainly have had your share of being there for me when I need it, too."

"Anytime, bro," Chris said. "Now, let's say we properly enjoy being together again, huh?"

Martin nodded and the two left the room.


End file.
